"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
- Dale Carnegie

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Music Challenge: My Favorite Songs?

I have started this challenge in which for 30 days, I post a music challenge daily where I reveal personal information of my music personality and try to share a connection with my followers. I have tried this from time to time but never seem quite interested until now...

For the first day, the question is what is your favorite song? By far this is the hardest question I've ever answered when it comes to friends, tumblr, etc. For me, there isn't that one song in which transform my life or signifies my life story. When it comes to music, I have a collection of songs because each individual piece signifies my life, my memories, my pain, and my hopes and dreams.

One thing I have notice is back before iTunes existed, a person would buy one album at a time that would endure at least for a month to a year because you may like that artist's voice, their lyrics, the instrumentation, or simply because the music struck a chord with what is going currently in your life. When Adele came out with her album "21", I listened to that album for 3 months straight, day and night, and when I was not listening to her it was either Beyoncé or Whitney Houston. These three women know how to sing, how to bring out your emotions and transfer you to another dimension. Through their music, I found pieces of who I was, who I am, and who I shall be!

For my favorite song, I will bend the rules and give you three songs: My #1 on the Top 25th Most Played on iTunes Playlist, one song that I currently love, and one song that I cherish deeply.

1. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. Whitney was the Voice, and one of the greatest treasure ever to be fallen on to the Music Industry and Pop Culture. She was 19 years old, performing at nightclubs when she was recognized by Clive Davis. Soon afterward, she rose to fame and pouring her heart and soul into her music with song themes of happiness, sadness, and songs that would just want you to get out of bed and dance the night away. I love all of Whitney's music but truly cherish this one even though its a cliché and the average listener makes fun of this song.

This song at one point was the longest single in the Billboard Charts for 14 consecutive weeks, selling 44 million records around the globe, and won Whitney multiple Grammys! My favorite parts of this song is the introduction when she sings acapella. For me to just hear her voice alone gives me chills down my spine and makes me tune out the noise around me and just focus on her. I love the big bangs in this song but the other part that I love is the ending in which she holds out the word "You".

2. "Grown Woman" by Beyoncé. I AM DYING FOR HER TO ANNOUNCE HER NEW ALBUM!!! Beyoncé is gorgeous, talented, and I found many correlations between her and I in regards to music, love, enjoying life, and dealing with pain and sorrow when watching her HBO special. I love how she can control the audience the moment she starts dancing.

This song I believe resonates not only to women but to every individual around the world. Independence and Artistic Freedom. I love her dancing particularly in this song and I have realized I am becoming obsessed with her when I saw this video because this was the first performance live of Grown Woman at her concert in France. I've noticed that I mimic her diva attitude and I am learning how to bring it out in my performance and personality. My favorite line is in the 2nd lyrics when she says, "They love the way I walk, cause I walk with a vengeance, and they listen to me when I talk, cause I ain't pretending.."

3. "Bad" by Michael Jackson. He is the King of Pop, one of the Greatest Entertainers that roamed the Earth, an individual that comes around once in a lifetime, and my idol. I love all his albums but artistically, I believe Bad was his prime while Thriller was his introduction to the world as an Icon. This album, he poured out his heart and soul, singing and dancing to music about Love, Pain, Frustration, Isolation, Independence, and Change. Pretty much all consistent themes when it comes to world of a Celebrity, more specific, a Music Celebrity.

I had major issues my final year of high school and most of it consist of people in the higher ups who have forgotten about the students needs and care more about keeping an dysfunctional system working and never improving. Sadly I wasted my time in high school because I did not become the artist that I wanted to become nor did my school prepare me for my college auditions.

Nonetheless, his song taught me that all that frustration will be done and at the end of the day when I am older and accomplishing the music industry and the world, that I am "Bad" and that no one cannot mess with me when it comes to my life and my music. Thank you Michael Jackson.